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Newton Scamander
Newton Artemis Fido "Newt" Scamander, O.M. (Second Class) (b. 1897) was a famed Magizoologist and author noted for the popular book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. He also became well-known for the part he played in defeating the Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald. Biography Early life Newt Scamander was born in 1897. He had an elder brother named Theseus Scamander and he was raised by a mother who owned Hippogriffs which began a life-long of animals. From the age of seven, Newt would begin dismembering Horklumps. Education Newt began education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1908 or 1909 and he was placed in Hufflepuff. He developed a friendship with Leta Lestrange and they had in common a love of magical beasts and the feeling of being an outsider. Newt would eventually fall in love with her. In 1913, one of Leta's experiments with a Jarvey went too far, endangering the life of another student and broke the law that prohibited anyone from owning the animal. Newt took the blame out of love for Leta and to protect her from being expelled, but Newt had to take Leta's place and ended up being expelled instead despite Professor Albus Dumbledore's objection. It left Newt very bitter, but he continued to love Leta. Ministry employee In the First World War between 1914 and 1918, Scamander served on the Eastern Front wrangling Ukrainian Ironbellys in a confidential Ministry of Magic programme. The programme was eventually shut down because the dragons would only obey Scamander and attempted to eat everyone else. Newt later joined the Beast Division at the Ministry of Magic and he became very successful because of the invaluable knowledge he had gained of magical beasts which led to a series of promotions which benefitted Newt towards a successful and famed profession in magizoology, which the Scamander family was not very happy about. Travelling In 1918, Augustus Worme of Obscurus Books commissioned Scamander to write a book which would later be named Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. At the time, Newt was only earning 2 sickles a week from the Ministry of Magic and jumped at the opportunity to spend summers travelling the world in search of magical animals. Scamander travelled to a hundred countries across five continents researching his book, observing many magical creatures. He learned about their abilities, gained their trust, and occasionally beat them with his travelling kettle if they got too dangerous. He also began saving animals in need and placing them in a suitcase for safety until he found an appropriate safe place to let them leave. In 1925, he began a year-long trip to document magical beasts in their natural habitats. New York incident In December 1926, Newt left the Equatorial Guinea and arrived in New York for a brief stopover. But when a Niffler escaped Newt's case and in the ensuing chaos of trying catch it, Newt and a muggle (Jacob Kowalski) picked up the wrong cases and when Jacob opened the case he accidentally let loose a number of magical animals. The incident would be one of major proportions because of the high tensions between the magic and muggle world in the United States. Tina Goldstein noticed Newt and Jacob and approached Newt, telling him off for not obliviating Jacob's memories of magic. When she found out the magical animals in the case, she took Newt to MACUSA but only Percival Graves took them seriously. When they opened the case and found out they took Jacob's case, MACUSA no longer took them seriously. Tina and Newt then tracked down Jacob and found out other animals had escaped. Tina invited them to her apartment and introduced them to Queenie Goldstein and they invent a plan to find the animals and put them back in the case. However, when Newt and Jacob went in the case, Tina locked it and took it back to MACUSA. Newt was then blamed for the actions of an Obscurial which killed muggle Senator Henry Shaw and sentenced to death with Tina. He was also blamed for letting it loose on the orders of Gellert Grindelwald, an untrue claim to which Newt objected. Newt escaped by letting loose the Swooping Evil he owned and then Newt, Jacob, Tina and Queenie began trying to find the missing magical animals. Even though Newt was not to blame for the Obscurial, the true one was being hunted by Grindelwald posing as Percival Graves. Newt's hunt for magical beasts led him on a course to collide with Grindelwald and the Obscurial with MACUSA not far behind. When the Obscurial looked to be killed, "Graves" went on a rant in which Newt deduced who he was, and he shocked Grindelwald by capturing him. Grindelwald promised he would escape which he later managed to do. By then, Newt had left the United States, saying goodbye to Jacob (whose memories would be erased), Queenie and Tina. In 1927, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was published and became a very popular and successful book that many young people would continue to own even in the 1990s. Global wizarding war In 1927, Newt was approached by an old teacher who asked him to be part of a plan to defeat Grindelwald, who had begun a global wizarding war in order to dominate the magical and muggle world. Newt decided to join the plan and travelled to Paris in order to hunt down Grindelwald on a classified mission he would be forbidden to speak about for at least another 90 years. Later life Newt married Tina Goldstein and together they had at least one child and one grandchild named Rolf. Rolf would marry Luna Lovegood and they had twins named Lorcan and Lysander Scamander. In 1947, Scamander passed a law that demanded every werewolf sign up in order to monitor their actions and be certain they act safely. In 1965, he passed another law that banned experimental breeding. In 1979, he was awarded the Order of Merlin (Second Class) for services to magizoology and a chocolate frog card was made for him. By 1992, he had published A Children's Anthology of Monsters. He later gave up working in magizoology in old age and was living in Dorset with Tina and their pet kneazles, Hoppy, Milly and Mauler. In 2001, a copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was published in the muggle world with the statement it was a completely fictional book written for charity. In 2017, a new edition of Fantastic Beasts was published. Newt had never spoken of the connection he had to Grindelwald and never confirmed any part he played was true, mainly because he was forbidden by the government from doing so. The document forbidding him had a length of time from which he would be able to speak of when that time was ended. He finally admitted in the 2017 edition that he had in fact caught Grindelwald in 1926 and that he became part of a plan in 1927, in order to play an active part in defeating Grindelwald again which continued over the next two decades until Grindelwald's eventual final defeat in 1945. He denied he was part of a plan in 1926 too, and that he was sent with the case and posed as a magizoology expert on behalf of the government which he called absurd, but he admitted it was a bad idea to take the case with him. Character Newt was a kind-hearted and caring man who felt a deep affinity with animals and would favour their company over humans. He searched for the better side of people and was polite and considerate with everyone he met, even if they failed to do the same. He despised the idea of causing pain and suffering for whatever gain and very adept at forming close bonds with the animals he took in because he wanted to save them. He was also dedicated to the field of magizoology and very keen to continue improving the knowledge he had gained of animals even later in life, working with them in one way or the other. He was very well-loved and well-known, and kept writing even at the age of 120 years. Newt was also eccentric and at times had poor judgement, taking the blame for another's actions which meant giving up an education, and taking the suitcase with him to the United States of America. Notes and sources Category:Characters Category:Authors Category:Magizoologists Category:Hufflepuffs